Made In The Shade

reposted from a while ago..... Retitled in honor of the Lynyrd Skynyrd song.

This is one of those "almost" shots from my past, that I pull out every so often and try to turn into something decent. This is a super-oldie, taken early spring of 1977, when I was a young pup of 16. This was from a backpacking trip on the C&O Canal, along the upper Potomac River, near Hancock, MD. Kicking back at the end of a hike, watching the river amble away.... One of my first "favorites", despite some significant technical flaws... This rendition has lots of digital darkroom work.

Lone Tree

A repost from July 2005....

A little bit of digital manipulation….

Shadows

A repost from January....

In the wan light or winter, bare trees cast soft shadows on a cinderblock wall.....

Train Stuff....

A couple of close ups, of the undercarriage of the train we rode during our recent vacation:

GE, as is General Electric... This was on the engine, over the front wheels. Perhaps a brake assembly?

Blue Ridge Diesel, the sticker says. This was a motor hanging under the coach car (where we rode). I presume it was driving an electric generator, but not sure.....

On The iTunes 06.07.18_10:57

My 10 recently played, as if you cared:

Never Saw Blue – Hayley Westenra….. Sleeping Bag – ZZ Top….. Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong – Spin Doctors….. Local Girls – Graham Parker….. Friend – Van Zant….. Hot Love – Cheap Trick….. Christmas – The Who….. Going Down To Liverpool – The Bangles….. Oh, Weeing Will – Brian Protheroe….. Cook With Fire - Heart

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Linville River

Along the North Carolina portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway, around mile 316, is the Linville Falls area. This is a view of Linville River from the trail to the actual falls. My 17 y/o daughter decided to hang out here and enjoy the solitude, while her brother and I went on to the falls…. .

On The iTunes 06.07.17_15:35

My 10 recently played, as if you cared:

When I Come Around – Green Day….. Hypnotized – Fleetwood Mac….. Changes – J.J. Cale….. Truth Hits Everybody – The Police….. Where Is The Love – Roberta Flack….. Part Of The Plan – Dan Fogelberg….. Guitar And Pen – The Who….. Restless – The Bangels….. One Man Band – 3 Dog Night….. Go All the Way – The Rasberries

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afoot!

Nevermind...

A Love Supreme

On this day in 1964, Jazz great John Coltrane dies of liver cancer in Huntington, New York. A saxophone player and composer, Coltrane was one of the most influential jazz figures of the 1960s and '70s. An intense player, Coltrane's solos could last for 40 minutes or more. A leading figure in avant-garde jazz, Coltrane infused his music with influences from India and Africa. In 1964, he made one of the best-loved jazz albums of all time, A Love Supreme. (from History Channel.com)

On The iTunes 06.07.16_18:08

My 10 recently played, as if you cared:

Don't Get Excited (Live) - Graham Parker..... Castles In The Air - Don McLean..... All That She Wants - Ace Of Base..... Losing My Religion - R.E.M...... S.O.S. - Abba..... I've Known No War - The Who..... Tenderloin - Blue Oyster Cult..... What I Like About You - The Romantics.....Cruel To Be Kind - Nick Lowe..... Holiday - The Kinks

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Lost World...

On our recent vacation, my (6 year old) son was reviewing the brochures at one of our hotels, and found one for Lost World Caverns in Lewisburg, WV. Well, it wasn’t fall off our path, so we decided to check it our. And a fun place it was!

Basically a big old cave, largely in it’s natural state, except for lights and walkways, of course! This is looking back through the cavern towards the beginning of the loop .

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So they have this self-guided tour, it took 45 minutes or so, wandering around this cavern. The boy was pretty impressed, and I enjoyed it a lot, in a laid back kind of way. LWC was much less “tourist-y” than Merimec Caverns out here in the Midwest, which I went to a decade or so ago…..

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This piece is called “Bridal Veil”, I guess because it is white and glittery…!

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A B&W, just trying to capture the lines and shapes. The lighting was a real trick, leading to REALLY slow shutter speeds, as slow as 1/8th second. I did a lot of bracing on the various hand-rails, and think these turned out OK .

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The deepest, back corner, where prehistoric bears supposedly lived. So, if you're even near Lewisburg, check it out!

At The Estate

On our recent mountain trek, we spent a day at the Biltmore Estate, in Ashville, NC. I’ve spent many hours through the years in the Western NC / Eastern TN area through the years, it’s probably my favorite place in the world. But I’d never been to Biltmore. Neither had my wife, who even spent her teen years in nearby Salisbury, NC. Anyway, it became a “must see” on our trip, and was worth the time (and $$)! Here’s a couple of semi-random shots:

My Yahoo Group is doing “Barns” for theme day. I saw this one at Biltmore, when dropping my 17 y/o daughter off for horseback riding. A rare time when I was thinking ahead about themes!

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This is down behind the winery, near the “Farm Village” I was trying to capture the depth, the lines, and the stillness of a NC morning in late June….

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At the Farm Village. I really liked the lines and angles here….!

On the iTunes, 06.07.14_09:05

My 10 recently played, as if you cared:

Dance On Stilts – Blue Oyster Cult….. Everything That Cha Do Will Come Back To You (Live) – Wet Willie….. Grey Seal – Elton John….. Made To Love You – Gary Wright….. Who Are You – Who….. Wishing You Were Here – Chicago….. How Many Times – Zack Hexum….. Slow Ride – Foghat….. I’d Love You To Want Me – Lobo….. Dance Little Sister – Rolling Stones

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No Quarter

A shot of the New River Gorge Bridge, looking downstream from the little bridge over the river. I was trying to copy the WV Quarter, not too bad considering I didn’t actually have a sample with me at the time… Here's a view of the little bridge:

On the iTunes, 06.07.13_11:11

My last 10 recently played, as if you cared:

Just You & Me - Chicago..... Too Much Information - Police..... Man Of The Hour - Outlaws..... I Feel It In My Heart - Talking Heads..... Rockin' All Over The World (Live) - John Fogarty..... Song With No Words - CSN..... Nobody's Home - Kansas..... Play Something Sweet - 3 Dog Night..... Dream Within A Dream - Alan Parsons Project..... From The Beginning - Emerson Lake and Palmer

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Almost Heaven.......

A view of the New River Gorge bridge (Rt. 19) near Summersvill, WV. From the visitor center overlook (underlook?). .

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Looking up the gorge, through the trees… .

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Another shot from the Blenko visitor center. Blenko got their star doing stained glass, this is just something in one of the windows… .

Live Aid

On July 13th, 1985, an estimated 1.5 Billion viewers tuned in to watch Live Aid, the dual-site (Philadelphia & London) concert to raise funds for Famine Relief in Ethiopia. Organized by Bob Geldof (the of the Boomtown Rats), the show raised something like $150M, but it seems that not much aid actually reached those who needed it. I've heard stories of food rotting on docks, and of money stolen by the corrupt Ethiopian government... Regardless, things don't seem to be much better there 21 years down the road.

...And my music bores me once again.

I'm really excited!! Just yesterday I received (from my friends at Amazon) the new compilation from Brian Protheroe!! Protheroe wrote/performed one of my favorite songs, "Pinball", which was a very minor hit back in 1974. I searched for the album for several years, and finally found it through a mail order company in 1980 or so. One of my favorite obscure artists, varied, and unconvential. I've been trying to find "Pinball" on CD for years, and EMI (over in England) just relased a compilation package. The first time I've ever pre-ordered from them!

I've been away for awhile.......

But I'm back! The shot above is from the New River Gorge....

Sorry folks, it's been a really crazy couple of weeks. First our vacation treck though the Appalachains, with several hundred photos waiting to wade through.... Then, the 4th of July, a quick trip for a job interview, a seemingly short weekend, and then leaving my old job yesterday. I've ended my almost 17 year association with my previous company, and will be starting a new job soon (probably 7/24, but maybesooner if we can get all the "stuff" done). Somewhere in there I got a new computer (desktop), and a new version of Photoshop Elements (4.0). Phew. Details to follow.

Blenko!

West Virginia has a long history in specialty and hand-blown glass factories. Probably the most famous is Blenko, in Milton, WV. Only 30 miles of so from my hometown, we used to trek over there occasionally when I was a kid, before I-64 made it a 1/2 hr drive. It was a "must see" on our recent vacation.

As with our visit to Charleston, it seems like NOTHING has changed at Blenko! Sadly, they weren't blowing glass the day we were there, but we had fun at the Visitor Center, just the same. We even wandered the grounds a little, despite the rain.

Back Where It All Started...

We’re just home from a week’s vacation, essentially a driving tour of Appalachia. After dashing across Kentucky, we crossed WV on a diagonal, cut across SW Virginia (including Roanoke), Eastern Tennessee (Kingsport and Maryville) and Western North Carolina (Asheville). A little bit of Interstate, a good bit of “backroads” and a little bit of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Expect a slew of mountain photos over the next little bit! Anyway, the centerpiece of the trip (for me, at least) was an afternoon in Charleston, WV, where I was born. I expected massive changes, it’s been 36 years since we moved, and 28 since I last visited. But aside from the interstate running through town, and more buildings in the downtown skyline, I was amazed at how much it is the same! Except all the trees are lots bigger.

This is the house I lived in from birth (1960) until I was 7 or so… It’s been resided, and the parking area is new, but other than that, it looks like home!

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Our second house in Charleston, where we lived until moving to Pittsburgh at the end of 1970 (between Christmas and New Years). The backyard (WAY down a hill) used to be woods, now it’s more houses, but other than that, it’s almost spooky.

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Holtz Elementary School, Where I went to 3rd, 4th and (half of) 5th grade. There’s soooo many memories in Charleston, just driving around was awesome. Every turn brought another flood of recollections. Even the rain couldn't dampen my spirits!